


Forever Waiting

by NoodleTiger



Series: Free! Shipping Relay Entries [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Free! Shipping Relay, M/M, Summer 2014, Technology, Video Game AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 02:46:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2050581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoodleTiger/pseuds/NoodleTiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin’s guilty pleasure, which he’d never admit to anyone, was playing mmorpgs and chatting to a cute brunet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> This was my work for the Free! Shipping Relay 2014~ My story has been posted there now so I assume it's okay for me to post it here now too. Enjoy!

Rin slammed the front door shut.

His sports bag dropped to the floor with a thud and, shoes discarded, Rin jogged off to his room to flop head first onto his bed. Man, that was a long swim practise. He thought that was never going to end.

Lazily, he dug his hand into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He swiped it on, and it took him a minute or two of doing his own business to notice the time. But when he did, Rin felt the breath catch in his throat. He was late. Shit.

Rin leapt off the bed and threw himself at his desk. Sliding onto his chair, he frantically turned his computer on, muttering as he went, waiting for the whirring of the fan to start.

And, okay, it wasn't as if Makoto would kill him for being late, but Rin wanted to get on the stupid server in time to save his dignity at least. Well, if he had any left after playing a mmorpg. He would _die_ of shame if anyone found out at school and it was bad enough having Kou know. If he had a penny for each time she'd teased him he'd be a millionaire by now!

Finally, after some rushed clicking, the loading screen faded up, showing the title scrawled in sharp cursive. After clicking through the various title screens and the setup, the view of Rin's avatar finally loaded. Rin let out a sigh of relief. The next thing he did was check his friend list to find-

...Makoto wasn't even online yet. Great. Rin reached for his phone again and typed out a short text to Makoto, trying not to sound pissed, and probably failing to. He just hoped he didn't come across as too grumpy over message, as he honestly didn't mean to. Most of the time.

While he waited, Rin decided to make sure he had the supplies he needed for the dungeon they were going to explore that evening, and perhaps check in with some of his other 'friends,' if he could call any of them that. Except for Makoto, of course, who, despite meeting online, Rin had become quite close to.

It was while he was doing this that Kou decided to pop her head around the door. Once she caught sight of Rin at his desk, she instantly knew what he was doing and a sly grin slid onto her face. "How's the dorky ass game going, bro?"

"Shut it!"

Kou merely laughed in response and walked over to lean on the back of his chair. She rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and stared intently at the screen. "What 'class' were you again?"

"...An archer."

"Oh. I'd of pegged you as more of a big sword run in for the kill sorta guy. And really Rin? You're an _elf?"_

"What, all the other options sucked!" Kou looked at him pointedly. "They did! Did you really want to see me playing as a goblin, for Christ's sake?!"

"Hmm..." Kou studied him closely. "Well, you'd definitely be more attractive like that than you are in real life."

"HEY!"

"Kidding, kidding!" Kou laughed, raising her hands in defence. "You look much cooler than a goblin."

"Thanks..." Rin grumbled, pouting.

His computer, between the serenades of the background music, pinged happily. Rin froze.

"Ooooo, whose OrcaMage7?'"

Rin span his chair around so he covered the screen with his back. "N-none of your business!"

Kou leant side to side to try to see past him. "Is this guy the reason you're SO addicted to this game now days?"

"N-no, he's just- I mean- We play- Oh, shut up!"

Kou laughed again, gleefully this time, and spun Rin's chair around just in time for her to see Makoto's avatar to pop up on the screen.

"Oh my god, he's so cute! Look at that little staff- oh and the cloak -no wonder you fell for him Rin! He's just so.. adorable!"

"You don't even know what he really looks like!"

Kou turned her head sharply. "Do you?"

"...Well, yeah. We've skyped before."

"Then is he cute?"

"..."

Kou squealed. "I'm taking that as a yes! Oh, and you're blushing by the way." Rin instantly tried to cover his face while Kou took this opportunity to twist the screen in her direction. "How'd you even meet this guy anyway?"

"He lost his usual gaming partner when the guy got really attached to the underwater world of the game. So my… friend needed a new one," Rin explained. "We ran into each other in a dungeon one day and I guess we teamed up from there. And no, before you ask, I don’t know him in real life so you can’t try to set us up."

"Still, young nerd love!" Kou cooed, and Rin had to swat away the hand aimed to pinch cheek.

"Yeah yeah, now leave me alone so I can play my game."

"Aww, but-"

Rin pointed his hand in the direction of the door. "Leave." He commanded. Kou rolled her eyes and said her goodbyes before exiting, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Once she was gone, Rin finally let out the groan he'd been holding and ran a hand through his hair. Great, more teasing. And she'd probably try to set him up with Makoto too. That wasn't the worst thing that could happen, per se, but Rin doubted he had the nerve to even ask where Makoto lived, let alone on a date.

But it wasn't the time to worry about this. Now, he had a dungeon to finish and supplies at the ready. After five minutes of leaving Makoto hanging, Rin finally reached for his keyboard and typed a reply.

\---

For the next few weeks, Rin stuck to his usual pattern; school, swim practice, home, online. All the time he wasn't home or online, however, he was just itching for a text from Makoto, or any form of communication at all. He couldn't resist the urge to check his phone every now and then, despite knowing there would be nothing there. The guy was a goody two shoes, and Rin couldn't really see the guy breaking any rule, even a simple one like texting in class.

Still, when it got to the end of the day, he eagerly rushed home to find Makoto waiting for him. Today was the same, and he was there, waiting, just as they'd planned. The little private chat box popped up on Rin's side of the screen and Makoto’s familiar sunny text appeared.

OrcaMage7: Hello Rin!

UndercoverSharkCop: hey makoto

OrcaMage7: How was your day? :)

UndercoverSharkCop: same old, same old. ready for the dungeon today?

OrcaMage7: Yes, though some help from Haru would be nice. This dungeon seems tough ^.^'

UndercoverSharkCop: his loss, we can enjoy our win without him!

OrcaMage7: You know, I should introduce you to Haru one day. I bet you'd really get along.

Aaaaaaaand, here came the subtle hints. About a week ago now, Rin discovered that, seemingly by ‘fate,’ he and Makoto lived practically only an hour away from the other. Since then, Makoto had been leaving hints, not obvious ones but hints nonetheless, about both of them meeting in real life.

And Rin really, really wanted to meet up, he did. It was just getting the nerve to do so. Because if he was going to, he’d probably end up confessing his undying love for Makoto or something and he’d make a total fool out of himself. So, despite being the stupid romantic he was, Rin just couldn't bring himself to do it.

 So, eventually, after writing the perfect response, confirming nor denying nothing about future meet ups, Rin responded.

UndercoverSharkCop: makoto, id probably end up in a fist fight with haru. you remember the times weve met up in game.

OrcaMage7: I think you'd get on better in real life. Anyway, should we begin?  
  
UndercoverSharkCop: sounds good to me

But right then, Rin heard the front door open and the sound of his mother's voice chime through the halls. Rin turned his attention in the direction of the door, and then looked longingly back at his computer. He guessed he could leave for a few minutes; Makoto would understand. So quickly, Rin typed out an explanation to Makoto and slid out of his chair, heading for the door.

 Meanwhile, between the greetings and hums outside in the corridor, while the room was empty, the sound of Rin’s door creaking open could be heard, along the light footsteps of someone sneaking inside.

\---

"Yes... Yes, okay mum. Seven, got it! Okay, I'll just be in my room... Yeah, ‘kay, bye!" Rin finally closed his bedroom door and leant against it. He sighed and then was about to return to his desk but… the seat was filled? "Kou?" Said girl jumped. Rin rose an eyebrow and asked, "What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing." She answered a little too quickly.

"Nothing my ass! What the hell are you doing?" The message box pinged. Oh god. Rin’s eyes widened. "...Are you talking to Makoto?"

There was an awkward silence.

And Rin rushed towards his laptop, and Kou tried to defend her post but Rin just pushed her chair and it went spinning off. She tried to protest once more but it was too late and Rin was already reading the messages and progressively turning more red and red and red.

_"You asked Makoto on a DATE for me?!"_

"You were never going to do it yourself and it’s obvious that you really like him!"

"But what if I didn't like him?!"

"Then you could cancel the date!"

"No I couldn't! This is MAKOTO, he'd be heartbroken!"

"So you have to go on the date then! And you didn't say you don't like him!" Rin glared murderously at Kou. She giggled. "You'll thank me after Saturday~" And with that, she slunk out of the room, cackling as she went, knowing it was wiser to leave than to stay.

 And Rin was left, resisting the urge to crawl up into a ball due to embarrassment. Oh my god, oh my god, what had she _done?!_ Sure, he wanted to go on a date with Makoto but when he actually had worked up the nerve _himself!_ However, the pinging of the message box brought him back to earth from his panicked state and, slightly nervously, Rin returned back to his game.

\---

 And, little did he know, that Saturday Rin was stood in front of the train station, waiting for Makoto’s train to arrive. The train was late too, which didn’t help Rin’s nervousness. He was leant up against a wall, agitatedly tapping his foot and checking his watch every few seconds just… waiting. Rin had even arrived early, just in case, but he guessed now that had all been in vain.

 And it was mad, he knew, but the waiting wasn’t helping his nerves. Thoughts like ‘what if he’s not who he says he is?’ and ‘what if I don’t like him when I meet him?’ and ‘what if he doesn’t like _me?’_ kept drifting in and out of Rin’s head, and it took all of his will power just to dismiss them. Because really, logically, Rin knew that Makoto was who he said he was, and that they’d get on and hopefully the day would go exactly as planned.

 It was then that the train finally pulled into the station. Hanging around outside, Rin tried not to seem overly keen when the passengers started filtering out of the train, but once he heard a familiar voice within the crowd, he couldn’t help but grin.

 Makoto was weaving his way through the crowd, apologising as he went, and seemingly searching for Rin at the same time. To help, Rin raised his arm and began to wave in Makoto’s direction, hoping to get noticed. It took a minute or two, but once Rin caught his friend’s attention it was plain sailing from there. Makoto jogged over and was soon stood less than a meter from Rin, in the flesh.

 “Good morning,” he said slightly out of breath, but nonetheless still happily.

 And thus, Rin was left to rack his brain for something to say. “You’re… taller than I thought you were.” He finally said and followed this by turning bright red at his own stupidity.

Makoto merely chuckled. “Ha ha, I am a bit freakishly tall. Don’t worry about it Rin. Anyway,” he coughed and held out his hand, “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, in real life at least. I’m Makoto Tachibana, nice to meet you.” His smile was blinding.

 Rin could practically feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. “…Rin Matsuoka.” He announced, and reached for Makoto’s hand, gingerly taking it in his own. It was warm. “Should we go then? I know a great café around here.”

 “Mm, that sounds good. It’s getting a little chilly out here.”

 “Makoto, it’s the middle of summer.”

 “It is? It doesn’t feel like it. Perhaps…”

 They slowly began to stroll down the street, in the direction of the said café, laughing and chatting eagerly. Rin wouldn’t admit to anyone, other than himself, but he doubted he’d be here if it wasn’t for Kou, damn her. And walking down the road here with Makoto, their hands still entwined, was worth the teasing she’d sure to punish him with later. 


End file.
